Aquarium - Ammonia, Nitrites, Nitrates

Nitrites are still hovering around 1.0 ppm. I found an interesting post on reddit regarding nitrites in the aquarium. I wanted to save the discussion for future reference. Below is the part that interested me.

Let's walk through what these levels would probably look like throughout a 1 month cycle (obviously things can be a little different based on temperature, hardness, etc) This won't follow the 7 hours/13 hours reproductions since that's 100% efficiency. Realistically, a true cycle should go a bit quicker since I set the nitrobacter to reproduce at 24 hours, definitely longer than it would take them normally. Will also assume you brought it back to 4 ppm each day, even though you can't really tell the difference between 3.8 and 4.

Day------Amm---Nitrite---Nitrate

Day 1 .....4.0.........0...........0
Day 2 .....4.0.........0...........0
Day 3 .....4.0.........0...........0
Day 4 .....4.0.........0...........0
Day 5 .....4.0.........0...........0
Day 6 ....3.99......0.03.........0
Day 7 ....3.95......0.14.........0
Day 8 .....3.8.......0.56.........0
Day 9 .....3.2........2.8..........0
Day 10 ....0.8.......11.8.........0
Day 11 .....0..........23..........0
Day 12 .....0........33.2..........0
Day 13 .....0........44.4..........0
Day 14 .....0........55.6..........0
Day 15 .....0........66.8..........0
Day 16 .....0.........78..........0.1
Day 17 .....0.........89..........0.3
Day 18 .....0........99.9........0.7
Day 19 .....0.......110.5........1.5
Day 20 .....0.......120.5........3.1
Day 21 .....0.......129.4........6.3
Day 22 .....0.......135.9........12.7
Day 23 .....0.......137.7........25.5
Day 24 .....0........130..........51.1
Day 25 .....0.......103.6.......102.3
Day 26 .....0........39.5........204.7
Day 27 .....0.........0...........274.1
Day 28 .....0.........0...........289.7

Notice that from day 10 to day 26 your nitrites are beyond what your test kit can read. Over two weeks of no noticeable change in test results unless you test nitrates as well. Edit2, also notice that you go from 8 times what your nitrite test can read (39.5 ppm on day 26) to 0 ppm nitrates overnight.

Edit,
Another thing to notice is that if you only dose 2 ppm ammonia instead of 4 ppm from the day it 0's onward, you will produce half as much nitrite from then on. Since the nitrobacter are multiplying exponentially, this is only saving you 1 day on your cycle and you are ending up with half as many nitrosomonas in the end. There is no reason to do this.

Seattle, WA.

April 27, 2019

Kate's Aquarium - Update

It's been very rewarding watching Kate enjoy her new aquarium. She interacts with it multiple times a day and always gets a big kick out of it. The fish-in cycle process has been very challenging and the purpose of this post is to keep a log.

I conduct daily testing to monitor ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels. The ammonia spike lasted for 2-3 days and now reads zero daily. A day after ammonia reading zero, nitrite spiked and we're now on day 8 of having nitrite readings hovering around 1.0 ppm. I've been doing daily or ever other day water changes as well as adding Seachem Prime to control ammonia and nitrite. While I get readings of 5.0 ppm for nitrate I'm not sure how or where it's going.

The aquarium is planted with 10 various species of plant. Perhaps the plants are consuming the nitrates? I tested the tap water for nitrates and the results indicated 0 ppm.

The tank is estimated to be 3 weeks old. The first week all I used was Top Fin ReadiStart. I assumed it was a de-chlorinator however realized my error about a week into the process. That's when I incorporated Seachem Stability and Prime into the aquarium.

I followed the directions for Seachem Stability with an initial dose for 40 gallons. Every day after I would add two cap fulls for maintenance with additional doses as I made water changes.

I'd also dose Seachem Prime as I made water changes, however I'd use a full capful (treatment for 50 gallons) while doing 50% water changes or roughly 20 gallons. My thinking was to contain the elevated levels of ammonia and nitrite.

I'm currently using an Marineland Bio-Wheel Emporer 400 with 2 x filters and 4 x AquaClear 70 sponges and a pre-filter sponge. I also use an Eheim Pro Wet/Dry Canister Filter (2227). Inside I use two trays full of Eheim substrat.

I've purchased a CO2 kit to install within the aquarium. I'm currently waiting for the parts to arrive and will follow up once the systems are in place.

Seattle, WA.

April 27, 2019

Kate's Aquarium - Update

The Eheim 2227 was finally re-positioned below the aquarium which will make servicing, in the future, much simpler. While making a mess, I decided to take advantage of the opportunity and streamline the intake, spray bar, and breather tubes. I also trimmed each respective tubing to the appropriate size. The wet/dry action of this canister filter requires that the tubing for both the intake and spray bar are the correct length. The breather tubing length is not as critical.

Green and brown algae are starting to grow. The aquarium still hasn't completed the fish-in cycle process and I probably have the light on for to long. The Vallisneria and Vesuvius are already starting to propagate new nodes.

Seattle, WA.

April 27, 2019

Kate's Aquarium - Update

Soon as we started planting we realized that the substrate wasn't sufficient for the look we were going after. A quick stop to the local pet store yielded us some sand for the natural look. We decided to group the two Narrow Leaf Anacharis bunches into one since they were starting to thin out. It appears the fish love eating the leaves off of it.

I had a Eheim Pro Wet/Dry Canister Filter (2227) laying around and decided to put it to use. The filtration in this tank is way overkill, however it's a pretty decent biological filter so why not.

The Eheim 2227 is currently behind the aquarium and it's pretty hard to service in that position. I need to find a suitable stand to relocate the Eheim 2227 in a more ideal location.

Seattle, WA.

April 27, 2019

Kate's Aquarium - Update

The fluorescent light that was included with the original aquarium kit was upgraded to a Fluval Plant 2.0 LED light. This led light unit is super cool and looks fantastic! The higher quality light will do wonders for the plants so we added the following.